The house of Montagu is a British Noble family founded in the eleventh century in Somerset. The house of Montague held many titles, including Baron, Viscount, Earl and Duke. In 1660, a title was created for the prominent Naval commander, Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. It was nominally associated with Sandwich, Kent. He was called the Earl of Sandwich.
John Montagu was the 4th Earl of Sandwich. Born into nobility, he was a statesman, but also a man of many vices. One of his vices was gambling, and he would spend a lot of time at the gambling table at the Hellfire Club.
The story goes that Lord Sandwich was a conversant gambler and would spend many hours playing cards at the gambling table. He also loved to eat meat while playing cards. But eating meat would render his hands greasy and spoil the cards. He would therefore ask his valet to bring him beef served between two slices of bread. The others at the gambling table began asking for “the same as Sandwich”, and thus the Sandwich was born.
There is still debate over the veracity of this story. This story arose out of a rumour in a travel book called Tour to London by Pierre-Jean Grosley.
Interestingly, Lord Sandwich was a great supporter of Captain James Cook. As the First Lord of the Admiralty, he approved the funds for three ships captained by James Cook. In his honour, James Cook named the Sandwich Islands in Hawaii as well as the South Sandwich Islands in the Southern Atlantic Ocean.